When our blog went down, your intrepid bloggers (that would be Maria) pulled out her trusty Exilim EX-S10 and grabbed a clip of ATV making contact from right here in ATV-CC. Afterwards, to say that 'the crowd went wild' would be an understatement: ever since then, there's been nothing but happy, smiling people here and there's just a tremendous feeling of achievement in the air. I spoke with ESA Mission Director Kris Capelle after the capture, and he said the feedback from the Russian and NASA partners that he received was entirely positive. It really is Europe's day! -- Daniel

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ATV Jules Verne, the European Space Agency’s first resupply and reboost vehicle, has successfully performed a fully automated docking with the International Space Station (ISS). This docking marks the beginning of Jules Verne’s main servicing mission to deliver cargo, propellant, water, oxygen and propulsion capacity to the Station, as well as ESA’s entry into the restricted club of the partners able to access the orbital facility by their own means.

Full ESA Press Release here

So now Jules Verne is part of the International Space Station, what happens next? Jean-François Clervoy explains...
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So what, exactly, does the crew feel when ATV is captured by the Russian docking port? Will they feel any motion in the ISS or transfer of momentum? 

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We've been badly hit with some technical problems here at ATV-CC so apologies, we were off air for a while there. Things seem to be returning to normal now though. We've been collecting info ever since and so now we will get you up to speed on the last half-hour or so of activity. The big news of course that you will by now (hopefully) know is that Jules Verne ATV docked with the Russian Zvezda module at 16:45 CEST - Docking was complete 7 minutes later when the hooks were closed.
-- Maria

Note also that we've added the video interviews with Jean-Francois Clervoy with the time stamps back-dated.. -- Daniel 

Now that ATV is at S41 - just 11 m from the ISS - Jean-Francois explains that the crew's primary concern is ISS safety.

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ESA astronaut Clervoy explains what the ISS crew **can** control when watching ATV close in on the station - effectively, they only need intervene in case of an unforeseen problem.  Full story »

More details from Jean-Francois on how the crew uses the ESA Docking Video system ('Simvol') to line up the target cross on the ATV. 

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Another quick clip Maria recorded yesterday with ESA astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy - he gives an interesting explanation of how the ISS crew monitor ATV distance and speed with a simple plastic ruler. -- Daniel

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